Branch/siding near Ince & Elton

[frodshamfella]

I noticed while travelling from Helsby to Ellesmere Port, what seemed to be a branch off this line possibly to some sort of yard, or factory just before Ince & Elton Station, does anyone know about this development ?

Thanks

Carl

 

[The Planner]

Sounds like the new Quinn Glass siding to me.

 

[STANDISH]

The actual branch is not new,previously was used for transporting fertilzers in the 1980,s and early 1990's. The alignment may change at the end of the branch into Quinn Glass. When opened the branch will be used to bring in sand from Middlleton Towers. At the moment this goes to Ellesmere Port.

 

[frodshamfella]

Ok...well seems to be coming along nicely, thanks for the info

Carl
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I go up and down on this limited service route a few times a month, and even with so few trains on the route, I've noticed some regular users on the line. Never got up early enough to experience the very early morning departures, so I can't say about those.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Back in the day there were numerous loads of bagged fertiliser from Ince and Elton UKF to many places in the UK - block loads to Akeman Street , (Aylesbury) , Andover / Gillingham , Carmarthen etc - before that it was called "Shelstar" - one of the fruits of the Beeching era - they had a special pool of pallet wagons.

 

[83G/84D]

Back in the day there were numerous loads of bagged fertiliser from Ince and Elton UKF to many places in the UK - block loads to Akeman Street , (Aylesbury) , Andover / Gillingham , Carmarthen etc - before that it was called "Shelstar" - one of the fruits of the Beeching era - they had a special pool of pallet wagons.

Fertiliser trains also served Bridgwater and Truro in the south west. The train to Truro arrived early on a Monday morning and left around lunchtime. It was usually worked by a Class 47.

 

[D1009]

Fertiliser trains also served Bridgwater and Truro in the south west. The train to Truro arrived early on a Monday morning and left around lunchtime. It was usually worked by a Class 47.

And Lapford on the Barnstaple line.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

And Lapford on the Barnstaple line.

Which had a 33 allocated to it Mon- Friday ,which I got removed off the diagrams - so the end result was the Barnstaple "papers" reverted to a 14x set. After all these years - apologies to the newspaper sorters.

Murdoch et al did that anyway.

 

[frodshamfella]

I just read this on Wikipedia...I wonder if anyone else knows anything about this proposal of offering a more useful service along Helsby- E Port line ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellesmere_Port_to_Warrington_Line

Quinn Glass is located in Elton, and in 2008 was planning expansion near the Ince & Elton railway station. Network Rail Route Strategy states that Quinn Glass is interested in additional passenger and freight services on this line. It is also thought that planning permission requires Quinn Glass to maximise upon existing public transport links.[3] As of 2012, no rail based enhancements have occurred as a result of any expansion.

In February 2015 the Department for Transport issued an Invitation to Tender for the new Northern franchise which will start in April 2016.[4] The Train Service Requirement (TSR) for the new franchise requires, from December 2017, two trains per day between Ellesmere Port and Helsby, 6 days a week.

Mondays to Fridays, one train in the morning will run from Ellesmere Port to Manchester Victoria via Warrington Bank Quay, arriving in Manchester between 08:00 and 08:59, with a second service in the evening departing Ellesmere Port between 18:30 and 19:29. In the reverse direction, the TSR specifies a morning train from Warrington Bank Quay to Ellesmere Port, arriving at the latter station between 06:30 and 07:29, and an evening service to Ellesmere Port departing from Manchester between 17:00 and 17:59. All these services would call at Ince & Elton and Stanlow & Thornton.[5]

On Saturdays, the TSR specifies two trains in each direction between Ellesmere Port and Helsby, which must run through to/from Manchester or provide a connection of no more than 15 minutes at Helsby with a train to/from Manchester.[6] There is no requirement for the new franchisee to provide any Sunday service.[7]

These trains, if introduced, would provide a limited service to/from Manchester, timed for commuters.

Gallery[edit]

 

[38Cto15E]

Seeing that name made me go back to the very early 70s when I was a guard at leicester.
We used to work a class 6 fully fitted freight which we knew as "The Ince and Elton to Whitemoor".
As I remember it didn't run that regularly and Leicester men worked it from/to Crewe.

 

[frodshamfella]

Travelled yesterday on 16.02 Ellesmere Port - Warrington service, I got off at Runcorn East, a few passengers used the service, I had a ticket having arrived from Hooton, but guard made no attempt to check or sell tickets.

 

[catfordbags]

Driving along m56 today noticed work is continuing apace --- heard a rumour both growhow and a peel holding ship canal development may end up using this line.

 

[frodshamfella]

Tried to travel from Helsby to Ellesmere Port and back yesterday, for the first time ever there was an announcement of the 15.17 departure at platform 4 (twice ! ) . This was a bad omen as the train did not arrive, and as I needed time to visit a bank in Ellesmere Port and thought would look at the new siding construction on the way and get the 16.04 back. I decided to ask the chap in the Signal box where the train had disappeared to. Apparently it got stuck behind something else in Chester, and now would only manage to do one return trip, so I had to give up on my trip on this occasion with not enough time allowed in Ellesmere Port.

 

[Cheshire Rover]

Driving along m56 today noticed work is continuing apace --- heard a rumour both growhow and a peel holding ship canal development may end up using this line.

I did read somewhere (Chester Chronicle?) That the line into Quinn was due for completion in May. I wonder whether the old West Cheshire Junction to Mouldsworth line could come back into play if Peel, Quinn and Growhow all start start using rail for freight?

 

[catfordbags]

I did read somewhere (Chester Chronicle?) That the line into Quinn was due for completion in May. I wonder whether the old West Cheshire Junction to Mouldsworth line could come back into play if Peel, Quinn and Growhow all start start using rail for freight?

I think tesco in helsby might get in the way of that. A fertiliser train chugging through baked goods and the nappy aisle get leave a few customers disgruntled.

 

[muddythefish]

Back in the day there were numerous loads of bagged fertiliser from Ince and Elton UKF to many places in the UK - block loads to Akeman Street , (Aylesbury) , Andover / Gillingham , Carmarthen etc - before that it was called "Shelstar" - one of the fruits of the Beeching era - they had a special pool of pallet wagons.

UKF sent alot of fertiliser traffic to St Neots where they had a purpose built depot which was only knocked down last year. The siding is still there.

I also remember UKF traffic going through Blackburn, presumably for the S & C. Where was that going ?

It was excelllent traffic for the railway, in big modern wagons, and should have been replicated many times over with other commodities and products.

What happened to UKF, and what happened to fertiliser traffic ?

 

[Cheshire Rover]

I think tesco in helsby might get in the way of that. A fertiliser train chugging through baked goods and the nappy aisle get leave a few customers disgruntled.

The trackbed runs at the back of Tesco. It was protected by NR.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

UKF sent alot of fertiliser traffic to St Neots where they had a purpose built depot which was only knocked down last year. The siding is still there.

I also remember UKF traffic going through Blackburn, presumably for the S & C. Where was that going ?

It was excelllent traffic for the railway, in big modern wagons, and should have been replicated many times over with other commodities and products.

What happened to UKF, and what happened to fertiliser traffic ?

UKF (Formerly ShellStar) exists as Growhow and as far as I know is still producing copious amounts of fertiliser that has for many years gone by road.

 

[RichmondCommu]

UKF sent alot of fertiliser traffic to St Neots where they had a purpose built depot which was only knocked down last year. The siding is still there.

I also remember UKF traffic going through Blackburn, presumably for the S & C. Where was that going ?

It was excelllent traffic for the railway, in big modern wagons, and should have been replicated many times over with other commodities and products.

What happened to UKF, and what happened to fertiliser traffic ?

Sadly I'm guessing here that the vast majority of fertiliser traffic was carried on loss making wagon load services. Once the Speed Link network was axed that would have been it. In all fairness you could say the same for all the grain that was once carried on BR in large modern bogie hoppers.

 

[frodshamfella]

Did a return from Runcorn East to Ellesmere Port yesterday, tracks seems to be coming on, and a new signal installed for Glass Factory siding. The Helsby-Ellesmere Port services, I travelled on and saw arriving, all had a few passengers yesterday, nice to see, plus shock a passenger boarded at both Ince & Elton and Stanlow & Thornton !

 

[Old Yard Dog]

I wonder whether the old West Cheshire Junction to Mouldsworth line could come back into play if Peel, Quinn and Growhow all start start using rail for freight?

I remember doing this line one Sunday in the 1980's. The first mid-Cheshire train of the day ran Chester - Hooton (rev) - Ince & Elton - Mouldsworth - Manchester. Later workings shuttled between Mouldsworth & Manchester only with bus replacement between Mouldsworth & Chester. The last train of the day then ran back to Chester via Hooton.

 

[catfordbags]

When driving eastbound on the m56 if you spin your head backwards at the right moment you get a fleeting glimpse of the developments - today it looked like they had got some new track down.

 

[frodshamfella]

i plan to take a ride on the line soon so will get a look at progress..thanks.

 

[6Gman]

Seeing that name made me go back to the very early 70s when I was a guard at leicester.
We used to work a class 6 fully fitted freight which we knew as "The Ince and Elton to Whitemoor".
As I remember it didn't run that regularly and Leicester men worked it from/to Crewe.

In the early 1980s I used to arrange the "Shellstar" (later UKF Fertiliser) programme each week in the diagramming office at Crewe. As commented upthread wagons used to head for all manner of locations spread across the UK. Wagon utilisation was high - I remember giving it as an example when I sat an RSA Railway Studies paper!

 

[frodshamfella]

Saw work in progress yesterday, looks like going along well.

 

[Cheshire Rover]

http://www.nwrail.org.uk/nwnews.htm
Article on this in the excellent North Wales Coast Railway website.

 

[montyburns56]

According to this article the planning permission for the factory was conditional on a rail link being created and it should have been opened by 2011!

http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/n...s/boss-elton-based-quinn-glass-admits-5173020

 

[furnessvale]

According to this article the planning permission for the factory was conditional on a rail link being created and it should have been opened by 2011!

http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/n...s/boss-elton-based-quinn-glass-admits-5173020

Nothing unusual there then!

Not only involving the promise of rail use, but companies will promise the earth to get planning permission only to forget about the bits that don't suit them once the plant is built.

Local Authorities seem powerless to stop them, being terrified of the legal costs should they lose any court action.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Nothing unusual there then!
Not only involving the promise of rail use, but companies will promise the earth to get planning permission only to forget about the bits that don't suit them once the plant is built.
Local Authorities seem powerless to stop them, being terrified of the legal costs should they lose any court action.

But notice from the article how NR has moved the goalposts to extract more money from the firm for the rail connection.
Given they (Encirc, Quinn got taken over) are laying off HGV drivers, it seems transport prospects are poor anyway.

 

[furnessvale]

But notice from the article how NR has moved the goalposts to extract more money from the firm for the rail connection.
Given they (Encirc, Quinn got taken over) are laying off HGV drivers, it seems transport prospects are poor anyway.

I would take that article with a pinch of salt. Quinn seemed to have the idea that all that was needed to make the sidings fit for use was clearing some scrub.

We all know that after years of disuse this is far from the case. What is being portrayed as Network Rail making more demands is probably the first time Network Rail have been approached for a realistic estimate for reconnection. Quinn have probably then picked themselves up off the floor at the cost of all things rail connected!

We must also remember that the sand currently travels by rail for 99% of its journey but is discharged at Ellesmere Port until the new connection is commissioned.

 

[popsider]

The first train ran into the new sidings on Wednesday 20th from Arpley.